U.S. stock indexes moved up sharply in Friday's trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.3 percent to close at 11,809. The S&P 500 index advanced 1.9 percent to end at 1,238 while the NASDAQ moved up 1.5 percent to hit 2,637.

European stocks were higher at the close. London's Financial Times index rose 1.9 percent to close at 5,489. The CAC-40 in Paris gained 2.8 percent to close at 3,171. The DAX index in Frankfurt jumped 3.6 percent to finish at 5,971.

Tokyo's Nikkei index lost less than one-tenth of a percent to finish at 8,679. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained a quarter of a percent to finish the day's trading at 18,026.

The price of gold rose more than $20 to trade at $1,641.00 an ounce.

The dollar down against the yen and the euro.